User Manual Review Eng221 Week 4

User Manual Review

Lee D. Allen

Eng 211

November 6, 2013

Ananda Parnell

User Manual Review

New technology is purchased daily; the user may not know how to setup or operate the new technology. There are many items in included with the new purchase. One of the most important items included in the packaging is the user manual. The user manual should supply all the information needed to setup and operator the new purchase. One example of these purchases would be Apples iPad. The iPad user manual could be reviewed with the following criteria organization, visual aids, instructional steps, readability, and ethical consideration.

The iPad manuals organization is easy to follow. The manual starts with the title page telling the user what the manual is for. This is followed by the table of contents, indicating each topic and where it can be found. The first chapter of the manual shows the user what each button on the iPad is called. This includes how to turn on the iPad. The next major step is how to setup the iPad to be able to be used. The information is organized for a new user to easily start setup and run the new iPad. The manual also includes internal links within the index, allowing a user to quickly go to the desired information. The manual ends with the companies contact information.

The visual aids are well placed, easy to see, and help to support the information they are associated with. The first visual aid in the manual shows a front and back view of the iPad, and points to every button and lever on the iPad. The visual aid names each of the indicated buttons and levers. This is followed by an in-depth explanation of each button and lever. These visual aids along with the explanations work well to help the user to know where and how to use different parts of the iPad. Neither does the manual over use visual aids, which can crowed the page and could confuse the user.

The manual utilizes instructional steps in different ways....